Building collapse in Miami
Building collapse in MiamiREUTERS/Marco Bello

On Monday, 24 Miami apartment buildings, including two owned by Miami-Dade county, were put on a list for serious structural violations after being flagged during an emergency audit.

The two dozen buildings had not gone through a mandated 40-year recertification process, reported the Miami Herald, citing county records.

The audit took place two days after the 12-story Champlain Towers South building in Surfside collapsed. The back portion of the tower containing 136 condo unit caved in suddenly early Thursday morning, leaving little but a 30-foot high mountain of rubble. The building had been in the middle of its own 40-year recertification process when the disaster occurred.

As of Tuesday afternoon, at least 11 people who were in the building when it fell down have been declared dead, with more than 150 still missing.

Two Miami-Dade county owned buildings made the list. The 88-unit Little River Plaza and Ward Tower 1 were built in the 1970s and had violated repair orders.

Local leaders cited a lack of federal funding for the lack of work on the buildings.

The Washington Examiner quoted Michael Liu, Miami-Dade housing director, who said that the county has a regular $10 million annual shortfall and was forced to make difficult choices “based on severity and threats to health and safety.”

Champlain Towers South was reportedly behind in repairs in several key areas, needing $630,000 in electrical repairs, $254,000 in structural repairs, $3.8 million in garage and pool deck upgrades, and $3.2 million in building facade work, according to documents released by the city of Surfside.